Chapter 44 - the last day at headquarters
My final day came quietly.
No giant ceremony.
No press conference.
I walked through the building alone.
The seventieth floor.
The boardroom.
My father's old office.
The hallway where Grant had once walked beside me as if he owned the world.
Everything looked smaller.
Not because the building had changed.
Because I had.
I entered the old boardroom.
The chair at the head of the table was empty.
I didn't sit.
I stood beside it.
Years ago, I would have needed that chair to prove something.
Now I didn't even want it.
Julian found me there.
"You ready?"
I smiled.
"Yes."
He held the door open.
I looked back once.
Then I walked out.
There was no dramatic music.
No applause.
No final enemy waiting outside.
Just sunlight.
A city.
A husband who loved me without owning me.
And a future I didn't have to control.
As we entered the elevator, Julian asked, "Where do you want to go?"
I smiled.
May you like
"Home."
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